I am a 5’11, 158lb rower. I am muscled, though I may look like a stack of pancakes next to many if not most on these forums. My body has a little fat all over, but I carry enough muscle on my bones that my overall shape is still somewhat muscular. When rowing, the individual groups of muscle fiber in the delts are visible, if that gives any idea of how thick the layer of fat is. There is a larger pinch on my stomach with a well defined 4 pack.
My legs have an even larger pinch, but there is enough muscle that the muscular shape is quite pronounced on the quads. What is troubling me, is that even at time for weigh in (i row in the lightweights) when I am under 155 lbs, there is a thick layer of fat on my back. So much that it is not muscular or even defined, though on the front side of my torso, ribs and veins are visible.
I drink Evopro morning and night for protein. I try to eat lean meats like turkey and make nuts (pistachios and almonds) a good part of my diet. I note the nuts because they are high in fat and do finish off about 700 calories worth each day as part of my diet.
If anyone has ever dealt with this flabby back issue, I could really go for some advice. I would understand if I just need to cut out the fatty almonds, but the rest of me is really not seeing the impact of this nasty habit. What exercises can I be doing to define the whole of the back (the lower part holds most of the fat, just behind where the love handles are, but I would like to work on everything)? Any other dietary advice, especially as to the amount of calories and of which how many should be from proteins and fats, would be well appreciated.
I am a newbie to much of this, so I accept that I am probably eating a lot of crap. If its a stupid mistake, I’m probably doing it.
IF you’re finding any “flabby” body parts its due more to lack of muscle than having copious amounts of body fat. (ie being so light, with little muscle, means it doesn’t take much fat to give an overall high-ish bf%) Either that or it’s entirely in your mind. Or maybe it’s just skin.
Thanks for the speedy reply. I do basic curls, military press, arm extensions, bench press, and leg extension with as much weight as I can bear for 10 reps. For curls and military press, I grab some smaller dumbells (15s) and do a set of 50 slow reps, which I believe is good for endurance. I do a set of 100 squat jumps (jumpies) carrying no weight. I could go on and on but there isn’t really any organization to my weight circuit. I have a place to do pullups, a weight bench and barbell, an exercise ball, some stairs, and dumbells. Sunday is my day off from rowing practice, so I work until everything is tired out, drink my protein shake, and get extra sleep. During the week I get beaten up plenty at practice, so I finish up each night with a circuit of core and body weight exercise. Before bed I do a 5 minute prone plank (3 minutes prone, 1 minute left and right arms.
This is very haphazard, and I see that now, having been asked what I do. I think that plenty of work gets done, but perhaps I should work smarter and be a bit more strategic with my training.
ok I did read the first line, and what came to my mind was if you’re a rower then do your school rowing plan (try and find the one used by your top rowing crew, ie the 1st VIII). You don’t need to be doing any of the same training as a bodybuilder/powerlifter/strongman.
[quote]Circus wrote:
Thanks for the speedy reply. I do basic curls, military press, arm extensions, bench press, and leg extension with as much weight as I can bear for 10 reps. For curls and military press, I grab some smaller dumbells (15s) and do a set of 50 slow reps, which I believe is good for endurance. I do a set of 100 squat jumps (jumpies) carrying no weight. I could go on and on but there isn’t really any organization to my weight circuit. I have a place to do pullups, a weight bench and barbell, an exercise ball, some stairs, and dumbells. Sunday is my day off from rowing practice, so I work until everything is tired out, drink my protein shake, and get extra sleep. During the week I get beaten up plenty at practice, so I finish up each night with a circuit of core and body weight exercise. Before bed I do a 5 minute prone plank (3 minutes prone, 1 minute left and right arms.
This is very haphazard, and I see that now, having been asked what I do. I think that plenty of work gets done, but perhaps I should work smarter and be a bit more strategic with my training.
motivation and commentary much appreciated, Jack[/quote]
It’s pretty obvious from this post why you have backflab…I didn’t see any serious back exercises besides pull ups man. while rowing might be beneficial for your back the gains from that might have stopped coming since you’ve been at it for a while so it’s probably about time for you to throw a couple of new back(EXCLUSIVELY BACK) exercises to build some muscle back there and knock some fat off everywhere. Your diet seems fine though(I’ll leave that to everyone else here), but, make sure to add some new stuff like deadlifts to make your back stronger, and then maybe some bent over rows and chin-ups.
Edit: It would probably be a better idea if you follow the above posters information before anyone else’s, but, I think that me and him can both agree that a few lifting tips wouldn’t hurt if they are applied correctly(your routine needs less front concentration and more back).
First off I think the back fat would be less of an issue if you had more size overall, but this may be difficult given your sport.
I used to Row at Uni and there is always a dilemma if you want to row and build a decent amount of muscle. Rowing is a major endurance sport and as you know rowing burns ALOT of calories and you need to reach this level daily as a minimum requirement just to maintain bodywt.
It will be difficult to add substantial muscle while you are competing at rowing, esp if you want or need to remain in the lightwt category. However if you focus on the basic movements like Squat, Prone Row, Deadlift etc and eat an excess of calories you can add some more muscle.
You might want to concentrate on lower rep work with heavier weights say 2 x week (obviously you will have to balance this with your rowing training) and leave the endurance stuff for the ergo and on water work. This was how I used to balance weights for size/strength and rowing for endurance. It’s not ideal but unless you give up rowing, its prob your best bet for now.
Unlike the majority you will prob find that you have more strength in your back and less in your chest, so make sure you do some chest work also to keep things balanced.
The following article about strength and how it relates to rowing is interesting and it also mentions some specific strength training with weights, ergo and on water.
If building up some muscle on the back is the best way to go about this, could anyone advise me on what sort of sets and exercises I can be doing? Deadlifts and bent over row are ones I already know of, but any other motions to target other groups on the back would be very helpful.
I was originally in the top eight. Because of poor form (despite top erg scores) I was bumped out to practice my technique. Eventually I ended up having to make weight to row in the ltwt 8, which is doing quite well (#1 in southwest) considering that the average rower in the boat is 10 pounds under the weight limit.
Anyhow, having learned how to row properly, I now have the opportunity to reclaim my seat, so it is not necessary to remain at 155 lbs for much longer. If building muscle is the only way to appear muscular, then I will hit the weights.
I’d just say to make sure you don’t end up doing too many different movements/exes at once, so you don’t recover. You’ll be better off picking maybe one vertical and one horizontal pull (together with say deadlifts/squats and chest exe etc) and hitting them for 4-6 wks and then rotating the back exes to some different lifts. Remember the more you do the more food you’ll need to eat.
The only leg lift you mentioned was leg extentions. That probably isn’t good. I realise legs might be dead weight in rowing, but if you want to look muscular with scrawny legs you look like a douchebag.
The only leg lift you mentioned was leg extentions. That probably isn’t good. I realise legs might be dead weight in rowing, but if you want to look muscular with scrawny legs you look like a douchebag.[/quote]
Big strong legs seem to be one of the main features on most of the rowers I know
I believe Poliquin commented on people who tend to store a disproportionate amount of fat on their back even when lean. It has something to do with their insulin sensitivity and can be remedied by increasing intake of EFAs like fish oil for one. There are far more effective ways of increasing insulin sensitivity, of course…and I;m not referring to Vanadyl Sulfate or chromium.
[quote]UkpairehMombooto wrote:
I believe Poliquin commented on people who tend to store a disproportionate amount of fat on their back even when lean. It has something to do with their insulin sensitivity and can be remedied by increasing intake of EFAs like fish oil for one. There are far more effective ways of increasing insulin sensitivity, of course…and I;m not referring to Vanadyl Sulfate or chromium.[/quote]
I was thinking of Poloquin’s hormonal profile gig too. Best way to increase insulin sensitivity is to quit eating carbs.
This’ll kill your exercise though. A better path would be to keep carbs to the AM and post-workout. Or just post workout.
Just to make sure, your goals are to remove back fat for cosmetic purposes without harming your ability to row, right?
Clean up your diet, add deadlifts and powercleans to your exercise regimen, cut out the curls, and you should be good to go.
EDIT: just took another look at your lifting. Don’t ADD deadlifts and powercleans, REPLACE your current lifting with deadlifts and powercleans. 3-5 sets of 5 reps each, make the weight challenging. This should improve your rowing, but at the very least, it won’t hurt it.
The only leg lift you mentioned was leg extentions. That probably isn’t good. I realise legs might be dead weight in rowing, but if you want to look muscular with scrawny legs you look like a douchebag.
Big strong legs seem to be one of the main features on most of the rowers I know[/quote]
i thought that rowing uses almost every part of your body?
just do starting strength by rippetoe. making your legs, hips, lower and upper back stronger would be a great idea IMO for rowing since they are the biggest muscle groups and starting strength has a lot of that… after all you pretty much use your back/shoulder on pretty much almost all exercizes.
the only things you should maybe tweak for now depend on your goals. do you want to stay the same weight or go up? also, after you do the program for some months, decide on your own or with your rowing coaches that LIFT weights how much endurance work you should add. generally increasing strength will help anyway
